Many processes are performed in conjunction with the finishing and distribution of publications or books such as catalogs and magazines after they have been printed. These are referred to as post-press or in-line processes. Typical in-line processes include assembly of signatures; binding; trimming; insertion of additional materials; personalization, including ink jetting of addresses and other information; and bundling.
Catalogs and magazines are typically mailed to their recipients via the postal service. Postal service rates are dependent on various factors. One factor is the type of publication, based on content, that is being mailed. For example, second class publications are defined as printed matter including editorial content, while third class publications are those including only advertising material, such as catalogs and promotional flyers.
Postal rate discounts can be obtained for bundles of publications wherein each publication in the bundle is addressed to the same zip code, or to a specific mail route within a zip code. One way to achieve the proper assembly of zip code bundles of a single publication is to produce the books in zip code order, label appropriate ones of the books with a mark indicative of the end of the bundle (based on data from a mailing list), and convey the books past a detector which indicates to a bundling machine when the mark occurs. However, it is also desirable to combine publications having different titles into a single mail stream and produce zip code bundles from that stream in order to produce bundles containing a sufficiently large number of publications to take optimal advantage of mailing discounts.
Currently, various multi-mailer systems are known which operate to combine different titles of previously bound publications into a single mail stream. The different publications are selectively fed according to a master mailing list produced by combining the mailing lists of the individual publications. These systems are currently used for co-mailing publications that are not pre-personalized.
For third class publications such as catalogs, it is especially advantageous to personalize the catalog to include the intended recipient's name and perhaps customer number on the inside of the catalog, for example, on an order form. Current postal regulations require that an accurate count of third class publications be made to determine the applicable postal fee.